MASH(in) on a TK2

NorCal based MASH, those dudes who eptipomize the collision between fixed gear core culture, art, phototography and everything great about the three have a new steed in their stable. Check out the attached TK2 pic from co-captain MASHer, Mike Martin. PS - Word is these guys are planning on riding the entire 2009 Tour of CA on their fixed gear rigs. Sick.

Doing The Right Thing

This winter Christian Vande Velde called about some getting some bikes for the Chicago-area school system and a program designed to encourage all the values brought by bike riding and reward students for their hard work. The Vande Velde's are a cycling family and know well all the positives that come from riding. CVV's pop, John, - a former Olympian and elite cyclist himself for those too young to remember - was also a major proponent of the plan. This is how John describes it:

"The program is Principal for a Day (POD). It's one of Mayor Daley's pet projects. I think it's about 8 years old and the idea is that POD is supposed to build a lasting relationship with the school. There a lot of major corporations from Chicago that participate and give thousands of dollar's back to the school(s).

"Last year was our first year with POD and we were really moved by the whole experience. We do our thing at the University of Chicago Charter school. These kids have nothing going for them except their hard work ethics in school. The curriculum calls for a school day that goes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. because they want to keep the kids off the street. The first year the kids didn't know who Christian or Lance Armstrong were and asked us "how do you play the game of cycling?"

"At the luncheon that followed, Mayor Daley was saying how proud he was of the individuals and corporations that were donating their efforts to the cause and that the POD's have to figure out how to get the kids out of their neighborhoods and see the rest of the beautiful city of ours.

"On the way home we decided to give bikes away to the kids so they could enjoy the sport that we love. We didn't know how to choose (which children received) them so we let the principle do it. This first time the parameters were that they had to be on the honor roll and they had to have perfect attendance. I think they had 14 kids that met that standard and we put their names into a hat and picked one girl and one boy. It was quite dramatic and the entire school loved the idea and their new bikes. This March there will another standard set I have just asked them to donate more bikes."

Great work, VV's. We are proud to be associated with you and your efforts.

Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

As we finish up one most interesting and exciting year and look towards another, we wish all of you a very Happy Holiday season. One thing seems certain - it won't be dull!

(Illustration: Dave Brinton)

Cam Zink's Mavic Video

Stoked!!

From time-to-time we enter into promotional and marketing efforts with some of our friends and affiliates and in most cases what we bring to the table is a bike. Depending on the nature of the promotion, it may be a road bike, such as the Team Issue F1 we gave away with the Versus Channel and the AR frame we gave away with CyclingNews.com, or it may be a cruiser, such as the many we have given away in conjunction with the Tour of CA, Tour of MO and more. This summer we worked with our pals down at Triathlete Magazine and and gave away one of our TT/Tri models, the B12. After 3 months of build-up local Dave Davis was the lucky winner and was absolutely stoked to have his named pulled. It is particularly cool when someone gets called up and is as grateful and unassuming as Dave. It completes the circle.

Just before picking up his new ride, Dave wrote us:

"I AM SOOO STOKED! Thank you...I am HUGE Felt Fan!!! Zabriskie, Vande Velde; Taylor Phinney’s Track bike is INSANE!!! Sarah Hammer! Andy Potts! and Emma Snowsill, are Rock Stars! Awsome athletes! Killer rides!!!!"

Right on, Dave.

Got Something New

Tim, new dad and one of the many talented engineers we have at Felt, ran into Felt's all-around-good-guy and smack-dab ace wrench, Michael Queliza - aka: Q (shown above) - while he was building a particularly swift looking bike the other day. Turns out it is a special Felt DA we put together for Kozo Shimano, another all-around-good-guy who happens to be Shimano no. 1 son and is now enjoying a little free time after running Shimano USA for years. What is particularly cool about Kozo's new DA is it is sporting Shimano's "Lance Edition" Dura-Ace components including polished black & yellow graphics and carbon cranks. Apparently there are only two such groups in existence, Kozo's and you-know-who's.

If you think about the relationship that Kozo has with virtually every bicycle company in the world, it is pretty flattering that he choose a DA to hang such a distinct one-off group from. Plus, now he's got a Felt TT bike to go with his Felt road bike, a SC1.

So there you go - everybody has something new! Kozo has a new bike, Tim has a new baby, and Q has his picture on this blog!

"Mile-a-Minute" Murphy and MPG

There is a loose rivalry between bicycles and automobiles that dates back almost to the inception of the motor driven vehicle. Over 100 years ago non-horse driven transportation was in its infancy with railroads being the preferred mechanized method for travelling from point A to B. Railways had their limitations and automobiles looked poised to be able to expand points A and B to all points in between. Like today's speed demons, as soon as a type of vehicle was invented, some had to see how fast they could make it go. Automobiles were terribly inefficient at the time and the ride was far from thrilling.

In this era, when automotive races were conducted at 2-6 mph, Charles Murphy claimed there was no limit to how fast you could travel on a bicycle, provided something just ahead of you was moving at the same speed. Basically put, a cyclists' speed on the bicycle was determined by the gear, surface, and a pacesetter, but not limited. Charles Murphy was an amateur cyclist and his bold claim in 1887 was somewhat substantiated when he pedaled a bike in a 64" gear almost 46 miles per hour - on a stationary trainer. He reasoned that if the air was still; sheltered by a moving vehicle, reaching that same speed in motion would be just as easy as it was when stationary. He became the laughingstock of the world, but continued riding and became an accomplished competitive cyclist. In 1895 he held seven world records; seventeen American records; and twenty-nine state records. Finally in 1899 he had his chance to prove his claims behind a specially crafted shelter on a Long Island Railroad passenger train and some covered railroad ties. The goal was to be the first to clock 1 mile in under 60 seconds. Cars hadn't yet attained this mile-a-minute speed. Airplanes hadn't yet left the ground. A frist attempt proved even the locomotive could not reach the needed speed and Charles rolled comfortably covering 1 mile in 1:04.8. A new machine and a new attempt finally netted the result: 57.8 seconds elapsed to cover a measured mile. It would be three years later, when another daredevil cyclist climbed in a automobile, one of Henry Ford's early machines and was able to reach a similar speed over the same distance. Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield and Charles "Mile-a-minute" Murphy became two famous cases of thrill seekers accomplishing the impossible and claiming their moments in history. It would be about 40 years before anyone was able to eclipse Murphy's record bicycling speed, while the automobile raced faster and faster with each passing year. The torch had passed.

As our rising gas costs and environmental concern build interest in alternative means of transportation, we rekindle the rivalry between car and bike; encouraged that everyone will rediscover the joy, efficiency and responsibility in two wheeled transportation and the original speed demon and thrill seeker machine.